When we allocate money for therapists, psychologists and consultants I do not want to see that money being diverted to hire extra managers, administrators and doctors who are underqualified. That has to stop.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which is of enormous importance to people in counties Cork and Waterford and the other parts of the country affected by flooding, not just in the past few weeks but also in recent years. I had the chance to visit Midleton last week, which is a town I know well. I have seen a lot of flood damage in my time, but this was at a different scale. The floodwaters were up to my arm. It was not just water. There was dirt, mud and sewage. A huge amount of damage was done. I have see…

I was struck by some of the people I met, who told me they were affected by the floods in 2015. Nobody could give them a guarantee it would not happen again in a few months' or a few years' time, long before the flood relief scheme is in place. We will push that as quickly as we can. We have 50 done. They worked in Bandon, Douglas, Togher and in the Tolka in Dublin. We know they work, and we have about 90 more in train. I agree with the Deputy’s basic point. We have to look at this in the round. It is not just abou…

In my 20 years in politics, I have often been compared with a particular British politician, but Jeremy Corbyn is not the one.

This is the first time I have been compared with or aligned to him, as a politician. I know I have moved to the centre in my middle age. I did not think I had moved quite that far left, but I thank the Deputy for giving us something to ponder. The Deputy is right to say my party has been in office in various coalitions since 2011. We have not achieved everything we sought to achieve, but on the basis of any objective analysis, our country is a much better place than it was back then. We have gone from mass unemploy…

When you look at Government spending, you cannot just look at capital expenditure; you also have to look at current expenditure. That covers areas like social protection, education and healthcare. Most of our spending is current, not capital. When you look at capital projects, you cannot just look at the ones valued at more than €200 million. You have to look at them in the round. Of course, the smaller projects go to the more rural counties and we cannot discount them. To answer the question on what I think the so…

I agree that road safety has to be of paramount concern for all of us. I am shocked at the number of lives that have been lost on our roads so far this year. I extend my condolences to the families and communities affected. There are many aspects to road safety, including car safety, the quality of roads, speeding, behaviour and education. I accept that animals on the road can be a road safety risk. The constituency I represent is very different to that of Deputy Healy-Rae, but we have a significant number of deer …

I thank the Deputy. I might ask the Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, to engage with the Deputy directly during the week. As he knows, the Minister of State has responsibility for nature, heritage and electoral reform and holds the pen on this issue. He has advised me that we need to cull significant numbers of deer over and above the 60,000 deer which have already been culled. I might ask him to speak to the Deputy later in the week and elaborate on that.

I thank the Deputy. I do not agree with her remark. The budget contains a number of things that help on housing, such as extending and increasing the rent credit to help renters, extending help to buy to help people buy their first home and a budget of over €5 billion, meaning that we will build records amounts of public housing next year, including social and cost rental housing. Today, the CSO released its new dwelling completion figures for quarter three of 2023. That shows the number of new homes built in the p…

The Deputy will see the new targets in the early New Year. We will take account of Dr. Lyons's research and the advice of the Housing Commission. We will also take account of other work being done by the ESRI and we will increase the housing targets in the new year. However, we need to be realistic. Housing construction can only be scaled up so quickly. We definitely do not want to cut corners or go back to jerry-built houses and apartments like we had during the Celtic Tiger period. We have gone from 7,000 new hom…

I will have to double-check with the Minister of State during the course of the day. My understanding is there is contact between the Government and the landowner. Whether this constitutes negotiations or not, I do not know, but there is certainly contact. I will ask the Minister of State to speak to the north Kildare Deputies about it. My understanding is the Government is willing to pay the developer what he paid for the land. As is the nature of these things, the current owner is looking for much more than that.…

I think the far right is capable of a lot of hate. Some of them are consumed and motivated by it. I think the same goes for a lot of the far left. Both groups are very much capable of hate. They are often motivated by it and often driven by it.

It is a fact Deputy. We have free speech in this country.

I do not need to detail or document for the Deputy the level of hatred that is directed by the far left towards many people for many different reasons.

I will send the Deputy some examples.

That is not a matter for me. That is a matter for the Ceann Comhairle.

I might have to come back to the Deputy with a more comprehensive reply because I am not fully au fait with these issues. My understanding is we do still clean rivers and ports. Obviously, we have to take account of wildlife and other factors.

I do not know exactly what happened in Ennis today, why surgery was cancelled and why the surgical team was not informed. They would usually be the first to know in my experience in the health service, but that may not always be the case. I definitely agree with the Deputy that part of the solution to the problems experienced in University Hospital Limerick is the greater use of the hospitals in Ennis and Nenagh. That is happening to an extent but not to the extent that I would like to see. I look forward to visiti…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know from what he has said to me before and what Deputy Colm Burke and others have told me that the situation in Glanmire particularly affecting Sarsfields is very serious and we are keen to help out there. I believe the flood defence works, which are under way, helped, but they need to be completed. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, had a very good meeting with Cork County Council just yesterday which he very briefly briefed me on. It looked at what could be done…

I think it is fair to say that many of the recommendations from the various citizens' assemblies have been introduced and have been realised, but it is not a requirement that the Government or the Oireachtas necessarily accept every recommendation. We need to consider them though and that is why the first step is always to refer the report to the relevant joint Oireachtas committee to tease it out in a bit more detail. A citizens' assembly on education is the next one on the list to do. It is a programme for Govern…